Inside The Underbelly

An investigation into international dealings of baseball has lessons for sport around the world

- L. Jon Wertheim

THE MIGRATION OF Latin American talent to Major League Baseball—particularly players from Cuba—has long been an unseemly business, shrouded in don’t-ask-don’t tell secrecy. These exodus stories often come suffused with tales of bribes, kickbacks, side deals with smugglers, dubious immigration documents and middlemen skilled at working around immigration laws.

This baseball underbelly might soon be exposed. U.S. edition of Sports Illustrated has learnt that the U.S. Department of Justice has begun a sweeping probe into possible corruption tied to the recruitment of international players, centred on potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. What’s more, SI has learnt that many alleged victims of smuggling and human trafficking operations have given evidence to law enforcement agents or testified before a federal grand jury.

“We had heard there was an investigation coming,” says one top baseball official. “But we didn’t know it was a DOJ matter. I don’t want to speculate, but, yeah, this could get a little more interesting.”

SI has also obtained a thick dossier of documentation that was provided to the FBI at the beginning of the probe. The trove of evidence—the material that largely persuaded the bureau to launch an investigation—includes videotapes, photographs, confidential legal briefs, receipts, copies of player visas and passport documents, internal club emails and private communications by franchise executives in 2015 and 2016.